Camels in India

It must be about 8am and I'm sitting on a ghat (steps leading down to the water) on the banks of the holy Ganges river in Rishikesh. I spent a month here - not necessarily on these steps, but in Rishikesh earlier this year. Rishikesh is a pilgrim hot spot. People come from all over India to bathe in the Ganges, the town has a very spiritual feel to it. It feels good to be back in India after my break in Pakistan, China, Tibet and Nepal. I'd even say that Leh, where I've just spent 6 weeks, wasn't really India.no cows, saris, thalis (staple food) leering men, saddhus (holy men).in fact, no Hinduism, as the area, Ladakh is Buddhist.

The sun is starting to climb over the green hills and is showering those bathing in the river in a beautiful warm glow, as only the early sun can. The pilgrims must be glad that the sun has finally risen, as the water's cold; fresh from the Himalayas.

The Camel Project:

But I wanted to tell you all about my time in Leh, which is certainly one of the best times I've had in India.and all because of camels. I mentioned in my last email that I'd been hanging out with 5 fellow travelers, who planned to take double-humped camels from Ladakh to Pushkar. This may sound like more of an odyssey when I tell you the distance.2,000km! They are planning to walk the majority of the way, which will take them 2½ months. Last year one of the guys was at the Pushkar camel fair (a huge, crazy festival which celebrates the wonder that is camels). He was showing some of the Rajasthani camel men, who live and breathe camels, but only single humped ones, pictures of the camels from Ladakh. The camel men couldn't quite believe it "not possible, not possible" they exclaimed, pointing at the camel's two humps. And so the idea of the camel odyssey was born. The guys decided to take a double humped camel to rajasthan, so the locals could see one in the flesh. And whilst they were at it, why not make a documentary and capture all the reactions. Pretty cool project, eh!?!

The project was a year in the making. One guy working on it from France, producing a road book and raising funds, another guy organising it from India. In June it was agreed and sealed with handshakes which camels they were buying and for how much. When they guys and I turned up in August to collect and pay for the camels, we were a bit perturbed to discover that no one wanted to sell their camels anymore, but we weren't at all surprised - this is India after all.

So the guys were supposed to be leaving in 3 weeks and didn't have any camels, which was kind of a necessity in the whole 'taking the camels to Pushkar' part of their plan. We set about trying to buy some other camels in the same valley, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that some kind of camel mafia was at work. The frustrating thing was that no one would tell us why they wouldn't sell. We had theories from the rumours that we were hearing. The locals were worried the camels would die en route to Pushkar; that their camels were going to be cross-bred with single humped camels (the result by the way is a grotesque, pyramid hump camel, which looks like it belongs in a camel zombie film, as opposed to 'star wars' where our camels would look at home); or that some tourist venture was going to be setup in Rajasthan featuring double-humped camels. They couldn't believe that the guys wanted to do this just for the fun of it!

Over the next few weeks the number of camels the guys had changed hourly; never more than five but frequently dropping to a depressing zero. It was a stressful few weeks for them as their hopes rose & fell according to the latest phone call or meeting. The one saving grace was a guy called Lundup, head of tourism in the area. He'd already been advertising the guy's camel expedition as his own idea and couldn't afford to lose face if it didn't happen. So, as India's all about social status & he's pretty high up, he managed eventually to get a couple of camels for the guys.although it's still not clear whether he was the don calioni (spelling?) of the camel mafia (as it would be hard for him to claim the idea as his own if the guys bought the camels themselves).

Background on the guys who are making the trip:

The guys, as I keep referring to them, were a really inspiring bunch. I met Antoine and Max first, who are both from France. Antoine's been travelling now for over 3 years, leaving Beijing a few years ago on a bicycle and cycling through lots of 'stans' (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan etc.) and into Iran, then onto India. He's the photographer of the group. And an absolutely incredible photographer at that. I learnt an insane amount from him (and his digital slr!).

Max, well, he's crazy. After spending just a few days with him I realised that the man is a verb. He's always doing something & usually doing a few things simultaneously! He's got an incredible amount of energy which is good because he was the organiser, which can be challenging in a country where organisation is - literally - a foreign concept. Max has been travelling in Asia for 10 years now (I wonder if he still writes long group emails home?!?!).

The other guys I didn't spend so much time with, as they arrived just a week before they set off. Ben is from England but has been working abroad in logistics for NGOs for a few years, most recently in Myanmar. He is the logistician of the party. Kamahl grew up on a camel farm in Oz. He has one of the most demanding jobs because he is the only one of the group with any real experience of camels and he is the film-maker. And finally, Jerome, also from France, as the brains behind the trip; he organised it from France. He couldn't have been more different from Max & Antoine, a rugby boy who is a very talented illustrator and had left a high-flying job in business intelligence for the pharmaceuticals industry. None of the guys knew each other before Leh. Jerome was the connection - he'd met each of them in various random places around the globe and brought them together for the trip. And me? I was privileged to be known as the official groupie. Accept no imitations!

Ladakh Festival Parade:

They got the camels just in time, as they were 'booked' to participate in the opening parade of the annual Ladakh festival. We couldn't keep the camels in Leh itself, so Jerome found this amazing place in a nearby village. The house was Tibetan in style and over 300 years old. It was stunning and very atmospheric. I felt like I was back in Tibet , only with camels parked outside! On the morning of the parade, we walked the camels 7km into Leh. It was the first time the camels had been near traffic and crowds of people (having lived in the wild most of their life). I think everyone was a bit apprehensive about how the camels would react.especially if it was going to involve stomping on spectators! I mean how do you control something that weight 500 kilos? Fortunately the camels were totally blasé about the whole thing. They're such peaceful creatures.

I helped out in the parade, carrying part of a banner. It was tourist central that day, with huge crowds of westerners all over the streets, each armed with a camera. It was very strange to have my photo taken as I'm so use to being the one behind the camera. The parade was excellent fun, hundreds of locals from all over Ladakh, each in traditional dress; singing, dancing and performing. Then at the back of the procession (as we arrived an hour late!).6 foreigners with camels! Quite a sight! The locals loved it. I think they see the same 'tribes' people each year and whilst it's interesting for the tourists, it's like me watching a parade of Scottish culture. So when 6 foreigners rocked up in Ladakhi dress, with camels, it was something different for them. They all shouted 'joolay'/hello and held out hands to be shaken. I felt like a celeb for a few hours! (And that feeling continued as tourists recognised me all the way down to Manali as one of the camel crew. Very flattering!

Travelling with Camels:

Then the work started. Me, Antoine and Ben were instructed to take the camels back to the village, the others were off for a meeting.the camel count was down to 2 at this point & the guys were supposed to be leaving the following day. So off we set. I rode Bhakapur, who is a wonderful beast, he's even been blessed by the Dalai Lama. The camels were tired and not as amicable as they'd been on the way into Leh. It was incredibly hot and the sun was pounding on us, as it tends to at 3,000m.we were exhausted after the parade too. When we tried to get the camels to 'chook' (sit down) so we could fix the saddles, they wouldn't. It would take 5-10 mins, a lot of pulling on the harnesses, soft words and stronger words to get the camels down. It took about 4 hours I think to go 7km back to the village and we arrived absolutely exhausted!

We were less than ecstatic the following day when Ben, Antoine and I were asked to take the camels to the camel farm.a mere 14 kilometers away. But this turned out to be an amazing walk. I led Bhakapur a lot of the way and I can't even begin to put into words how cool it feels to lead a camel, especially when there are no camel experts around. You look at these gigantic creatures, which can do pretty much whatever they want, and you're powerless to prevent them.and yet they obey you! Well, they walk with you at least. They sense that you're not so experienced, so they try it on sometimes, which means you have to be firm with them. It's not too dissimilar to training a dog - only a kick from this creature could kill you. The only way they misbehaved was to munch on every tree or shrub we passed, which turned out to be quite a lot. I have lots of funny memories of seeing the shrub before the camel & pulling on the rope in a vain attempt to prevent him from eating it.but he'd go for it anyway & I'd be dragged with both feet on digging helplessly into the ground, resisting with all my bodyweight.cartoon style!

The camel farm is a great place, I'd recommend a visit to anyone who's thinking about going to Leh. I slept a few nights there in a kind of living room. Just me, the guys, a bunch of camels and the most amazing sky full of stars. A few nights in Leh, I slept on the roof of the guest house (with a lot of blankets!) under skies like I've never seen. The Milky Way was so clear and I picked out 8 constellations one night, whilst 10 shooting stars flew by!

Before the guys left, the Indian media came and interviewed them. I filmed the ordeal (rather badly) for the documentary, whilst the guys were filmed for tv. By coincidence I saw the piece on the news, it was really funny and I even made it into the background as I was filming.

But soon enough it was time for the guys to set off on their adventure. I was so sad to say goodbye to them. They filled my days with such adventure and left me totally inspired to be a more adventurous traveller.walking around villages with camels, hitching in the backs of Tata trucks with road workers or in the fronts of army lorries (which stopped for the armed forces to collect their weekly ration of spinach!). But I realised that greatness doesn't (or at least shouldn't) come from association but from within. As in, I wasn't an adventurous traveller because I hung out with these people, it's something I have to do myself. So, when I left them, I rode solo back into town on the roof of a bus. So much fun! And you see so much more without the frames of the windows.

Then it was time to move on. Absolutely gutted to leave the beauty of Leh behind. I booked my 2 day bus ride down to Manali. Knowing I was going to spend my birthday on the second day of a mammoth bus ride was fine by me! My mum commented that it wasn't very good planning but what better way to spend your birthday than with spectacular scenery passing by, listening to beautiful music on my headphones & stopping for chai breaks and getting to know the other passengers (most of whom were tourists)?

On my birthday, we should have arrived in Manali at lunchtime. But we didn't. A bridge was down. They'd setup this fantastic pulley contraption to ferry people across the huge river. You were dangled from a crate suspended about 10 metres above the water. The crate was big enough for about 2 people, so they crammed in 3, plus luggage. Even so, there were hundreds of people waiting.all pushing and shoving with no semblance of a queue. Bless one army man for having the bright idea of establishing a separate ladies' queue! So I managed to escape the scrum. And it only took me 4 hours to cross. Sound like a lot? It took my friends from the bus, who were unlucky enough to be born men, 7 hours! Still, we all made it to Manali that night and celebrated not just my 26 years on this planet but the fact that we were still alive & hadn't dropped anything in the river! An absolutely fantastic birthday!

Future Plans:

My long term plans have changed a great deal over the past few months. I've decided not to move to Chile . When I sat down and thought about it, it just didn't make sense to spend $1,400 getting a teaching qualification, then $500 on a flight home and a further $800 on a flight to Chile . To spend all this cash when I don't know whether or not I'm going to enjoy teaching.well, it seemed a bit crazy. Especially when it's so easy to teach English in Asia without a qualification.and I'm already right here in Asia !

So I don't have any set plans now, just a loose idea of future movements. It goes a little something like this.I'll go to the Pushkar camel fair in November to welcome in the camel odyssey (as all good groupies should be there at the end of the tour!). Then I'll probably head back to Gokarna beach for a while. When I'm bored of the beach (yeh right), or my visa expires in January, whichever happens first, I'll head to Bangkok or Singapore to get my photography gear. By this point I'll most likely have to earn some cash, so I'll probably begin teaching English somewhere like china. Maybe Kunming which would be a good place to study tai chi, getting into photography, learning mandarin and teaching. BUT, and I stress, these are all just ideas floating around in my little hippie head. And don't ask about my plans to return to Scotland . Unless you like the fact that I'm living on the other side of the world, you probably won't like the answer! All I can tell you is that I love this life I've been given and I'm the happiest I can ever remember being. Freedom is an incredible feeling.

Useful Links: The camel guys have got a website, www.camelodyssey.com, but they're not updating it whilst they're away (no computers...).